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Events for the 4th week of April

  • ECE-S Seminar - Dr Gokul Subramanian Ravi

    Mon, Apr 17, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr Gokul Subramanian Ravi, Postdoctoral Scholar | University of Chicago

    Talk Title: A Hybrid Computing Ecosystem For Practical Quantum Advantage

    Abstract: As quantum computing transforms from lab curiosity to technical reality, we must unlock its full potential to enable meaningful benefits on real-world applications with imperfect quantum technology. Achieving this vision requires computer architects to play a key role, leveraging classical computing principles to build and facilitate a hybrid computing ecosystem for practical quantum advantage.
    First, I will introduce my four research thrusts toward building this hybrid ecosystem: Classical Application Transformation, Adaptive Noise Mitigation, Scalable Error Correction and Efficient Resource Management.
    Second, from the Classical Application Transformation thrust, I will present "CAFQA: A classical simulation bootstrap for variational quantum algorithms", which enables accurate classical initialization for VQAs by searching efficiently through the classically simulable portion of the quantum space with Bayesian Optimization. CAFQA recovers as much as 99.99% of the accuracy lost in prior state-of-the-art classical initialization, with mean improvements of 56x.
    Third, from the Scalable Error Correction thrust, I will present "Clique: Better than worst-case decoding for quantum error correction", which proposes the Clique QEC decoder for cryogenic quantum systems. Clique is a lightweight cryo-decoder for decoding and correcting common trivial errors, so that only the rare complex errors are handled outside the cryo-refrigerator. Clique eliminates 90-99+% of the cryo-refrigerator I/O decoding bandwidth, while supporting more than a million physical qubits.
    Finally, I will conclude with an overview of other prior and ongoing work, along with my future research vision toward practical quantum advantage.

    Biography: Gokul Subramanian Ravi is a 2020 NSF CI Fellows postdoctoral scholar at the University of Chicago, mentored by Prof. Fred Chong. His research targets quantum computing architecture and systems, primarily on themes at the intersection of quantum and classical computing. He received his PhD in computer architecture from UW-Madison in 2020 and was advised by Prof. Mikko Lipasti. He was awarded the 2020 Best ECE Dissertation Award from UW-Madison and named a 2019 Rising Star in Computer Architecture. His quantum and classical computing research have resulted in publications at top computer architecture, systems, and engineering venues, as well as two granted and three pending patents. His co-authored work was recognized as the Best Paper at HPCA 2022 and as a 2023 IEEE Micro Top Picks Honorable Mention.

    Host: Dr Todd Brun, tbrun@usc.edu | Dr Christopher Torng, ctorng@usc.edu

    Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97436018617?pwd=OFJVQ2Y0aCtnT0JXTE9LeWJlaGlvQT09

    More Information: ECE Seminar Announcement 2023.03.27 - Gokul Subramanian Ravi.pdf

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - EEB 248

    WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97436018617?pwd=OFJVQ2Y0aCtnT0JXTE9LeWJlaGlvQT09

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Miki Arlen

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  • Volunteers Needed! Viterbi K-12 STEM Center Summer Camps

    Mon, Apr 17, 2023 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM

    USC Viterbi School of Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Inspire the next generation of scientist and engineers by becoming a volunteer for the VIterbi K-12 STEM Center's youth summer camps. Volunteers are needed to help improve the overall operations and support elementary, middle school, and high school students with STEM-related projects and activities.

    Join the information session to learn more!

    Location: Online Event

    Audiences:

    Contact: Noe Mora

    Event Link: https://engage.usc.edu/viterbi/rsvp?id=389085

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  • PHD Thesis Proposal - Julie Jiang

    Mon, Apr 17, 2023 @ 01:00 PM - 02:30 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    University Calendar


    PHD Thesis Proposal: Julie Jiang

    Committee: Emilio Ferrara (Chair), Barath Raghavan, Su Jung Kim, Jesse Thomason, Kristina Lerman

    Title: Socially-infused Content Mining of Online Human Behavior

    Abstract:
    The vast amount of data generated by human behavior online provides valuable insight into how people interact with one another and with digital environments. However, mining this data can be time-consuming and computationally intensive. This dissertation proposes a unified language and network model that leverages the concept of homophily to efficiently analyze large-scale human behavior. By identifying patterns in network interactions and linguistic styles, this model can characterize political polarization, detect hateful and toxic users, and quantify users based on their moral foundation leanings. The findings demonstrate how seemingly simple patterns in online behavior can offer a deeper understanding of human behavior in digital environments. I apply this model to a range of real-world problems, including characterizing political polarization, understanding social influence on networks of hateful users, and contextualizing user behavior based on their moral foundation leanings. The findings demonstrate how seemingly simple patterns in online behavior can offer a deeper understanding of human behavior in digital environments.


    Location: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96953099505?pwd=MDhJVFFSbDhuNnBWNm9JZjRFRUVjZz09

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Asiroh Cham

    Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96953099505?pwd=MDhJVFFSbDhuNnBWNm9JZjRFRUVjZz09

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  • Petroleum Engineering Master's & Grad Certificate Programs w/ Prof. Ershaghi

    Mon, Apr 17, 2023 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Graduate Admission

    Workshops & Infosessions


    Join USC Viterbi School of Engineering for a webinar with Prof. Ershaghi who will highlight the Master's and Graduate Certificate programs in Petroleum Engineering. The webinar will include program details, USC Viterbi's DEN@Viterbi online delivery option, admission requirements, a live Q&A session and more!

    WebCast Link: https://uscviterbi.webex.com/weblink/register/ra6843185c4d9273317bb5398d470a56f

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Corporate & Professional Programs

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  • Alfred E.Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering - Seminar series

    Mon, Apr 17, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Andrew Holle, Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore, PI, Mechanobiology Institute

    Talk Title: Stem Cell Migration and Differentiation in Confining Microenvironments

    Host: Peter Yingxiao Wang- Chair of Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

    More Info: zoom link available upon request

    Location: Corwin D. Denney Research Center (DRB) - 145

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Carla Stanard

    Event Link: zoom link available upon request

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  • PhD Thesis Proposal - Haidong Zhu

    Mon, Apr 17, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    University Calendar


    Title: Body Shape Reconstruction for Video-based Person Identification

    Committee: Ram Nevatia (Chair), Ulrich Neumann, Mohammad Soleymani, Stefanos Nikolaidis, Antonio Ortega

    Date: Monday April 17, 2pm PST

    Abstract: The recognition of individuals in videos is a crucial task in connecting video clips of the same person captured by multiple non-overlapping cameras. While image-based person identification mainly relies on the person's appearance, video-based identification can exploit additional external information, such as walking poses and general body shape, leading to less biased identification results. However, changes in body shape due to clothing and camera views can negatively impact such biometrics. To address this limitation, we propose reconstructing 3-D human body shapes across frames to provide consistency and invariance to view changes, improving identification accuracy and robustness. Existing 3-D body shape reconstruction methods typically focus on frame-by-frame reconstruction and fail to leverage the consistency between frames. In this proposal, we aim to enhance body shape reconstruction and representation of objects and body. Additionally, we will extend these methods to reconstruct body shapes in videos and utilize this information to aid person identification. Our proposed approach leverages temporal information between frames and utilizes body shape information for identification assistance, with the goal of improving identification accuracy.

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Melissa Ochoa

    Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/94346121440?pwd=S3JSVVRpTFc5WFB5THEvWE9TTEhSQT09

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  • ECE-S Seminar - Dr Paria Rashidinejad

    Tue, Apr 18, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr Paria Rashidinejad, Postdoctoral Scholar | University of California, Berkeley

    Talk Title: Reliable Data-Driven Decision-Making Systems

    Abstract: Despite impressive success in domains such as vision and language, machine learning is still far from reliable integration into many challenging real-world scenarios, such as healthcare, where the coverage of existing data and the ability to collect new, diverse data are limited. This talk focuses on mathematically formulating and addressing some of the challenges in data-driven decision-making systems, studied in the reinforcement learning (RL) framework. I will discuss decision-making based on two sources of data: historical (offline) data and actively-collected data. In learning from offline data, I first mathematically formulate the challenge of partial data coverage. I show that this formulation combined with pessimistic offline RL unifies the major offline learning paradigms: imitation learning and conventional offline RL. I then present statistically-optimal and practical offline RL algorithms that simultaneously exploit expressive models, such as deep neural networks, and historical datasets with any coverage, to learn good decision-making policies. In learning from interactive data, I present general formulations and theoretically-guaranteed algorithms that exploit problem structure and expressive models to collect data for learning good policies, with efficacy demonstrated in a variety of navigation and locomotion tasks.

    Biography: Paria Rashidinejad is a Postdoctoral Scholar at Berkeley AI Research Lab and Center for Human-Compatible AI. She received her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley in May 2022, under the supervision of Stuart Russell and Jiantao Jiao. Her research focuses on the mathematical foundations of machine learning and AI and designing capable and general-purpose AI and ML systems for reliable integration into the real world. She also works on machine learning applications in areas such as healthcare, robotics, and systems.

    Host: Dr Somil Bansal, somilban@usc.edu | Dr Urbashi Mitra, ubli@usc.edu

    Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95534730279?pwd=SWtyVk0zcWtkWUQ5WVltRlNMalpNZz09

    More Information: ECE Seminar Announcement 04.18.2023 - Paria Rashidinejad.pdf

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - EEB 132

    WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95534730279?pwd=SWtyVk0zcWtkWUQ5WVltRlNMalpNZz09

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Miki Arlen

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  • Epstein Institute - ISE 651 Seminar

    Epstein Institute - ISE 651 Seminar

    Tue, Apr 18, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. Randy Hall, Dean's Professor, Daniel J. Epstein Dept. of ISE, USC

    Talk Title: Data Informed Mitigation to Reduce the Health Consequences of Pandemics

    Host: Prof. Maged Dessouky

    More Information: April 18, 2023.pdf

    Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - GER 206

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Grace Owh

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  • KPMG x CybOrg x WIE – Women in Cyber Celebration

    Tue, Apr 18, 2023 @ 06:00 PM - 08:00 PM

    USC Viterbi School of Engineering

    Student Activity


    KPMG’s Women in Cyber organization is excited to partner with CybOrg and WIE for an in-depth discussion centered around exploring careers in cybersecurity and finding purpose in your career post-grad, developing relationships and learning to thrive in a hybrid/work-from-home environment, and how to develop and bring your authentic self to work as a womxn in the security space. The panel will be followed by Q&A session where KPMG professionals will provide guidance on how to make your application and interview process stand out. Dinner will be provided! "

    Location: Sign into EngageSC to View Location

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Maia Calderon-Ramos

    Event Link: https://engage.usc.edu/WIE/rsvp?id=389222

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  • Photonics Seminar - Michael Shlesinger

    Wed, Apr 19, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Michael Shlesinger, Office of Naval Research

    Talk Title: Stretched Times and Divergent Time Scales Near the Glass Transition

    Series: Photonics Seminar Series

    Abstract: Near the glass transition temperature, Tg, many supercooled liquids experience stretched exponential relaxations rather than faster exponential decay. The relaxation has a time scale that diverges at a critical temperature, Tc, which is below Tg. I derive these laws from a model of anomalous defect diffusion and apply the theory to the pressure dependent conductivity of ion doped polymers near Tg. From a thermodynamic viewpoint comparisons are made of isochoric activation energy to isobaric activation enthalpy to determine the relative importance of volume and temperature to electrical conductivity. A key ingredient in the theory is the disappearance of free volume associated with defects when the temperature is lowered. The theory is able to explain the free volume measurements made by positron annihilation experiments.

    Biography: Dr. Michael Shlesinger received a B.S. in Math and Physics from SUNY Stony Brook in 1970 and PhD in Physics from the University of Rochester in 1976. He then worked at the La Jolla Institute, Georgia Tech, and the University of Maryland before joining the Office of Naval Research in 1983. He became Head of ONR's Physics Division in 1986 and a member of the Senior Executive Service in 1987. He switched to a Chief Scientist role in 1995 and received the Presidential Rank Award in 2004 and ONR's Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. He has held the Kinnear Chair for Science at the USNA. One of his ONR responsibilities was the Division Director for Marine Corps programs. His ONR programs have focused on fields including Nonlinear Dynamics; Fractals; and Plasmonic Materials. He co-founded the Experimental Chaos Conference and received the APS Outstanding Referee Award. His work on random processes can be found in his 2021 mathematical autobiography "An Unbounded Experience in Random Walks with Applications".

    Host: Mercedeh Khajavikhan, Michelle Povinelli, Constantine Sideris; Hossein Hashemi; Wade Hsu; Mengjie Yu; Wei Wu; Tony Levi; Alan E. Willner; Andrea Martin Armani

    More Information: Michael Shlesinger Flyer.pdf

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Marilyn Poplawski

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  • Computer Science General Faculty Meeting

    Wed, Apr 19, 2023 @ 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Receptions & Special Events


    Bi-Weekly regular faculty meeting for invited full-time Computer Science faculty only. Event details emailed directly to attendees.

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 526- Hybrid

    Audiences: Invited Faculty Only

    Contact: Assistant to CS chair

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  • AME Seminar

    Wed, Apr 19, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM

    Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Ivan Bermejo-Moreno, USC

    Talk Title: Interactions of Shock Waves and Turbulence Through Numerical Simulations

    Abstract: Hypersonic flight and propulsion pose fundamental challenges that arise from interactions between shock waves and turbulence. These interactions can be beneficial, enhancing the mixing of fuel and oxidizer in a scramjet engine, but they can also be detrimental, compromising the integrity of the flying vehicle through uncontrolled aerothermostructural coupling. This presentation will highlight recent developments on the prediction and understanding of these phenomena by means of high-fidelity numerical simulations. First, focus will be placed on interactions of shock waves reflecting off turbulent boundary layers that develop along rigid and flexible walls, by loosely coupling a wall-modeled large-eddy simulation solver for the fluid flow with an elastic solid structural solver that accounts for geometric nonlinearities. Strong shock/boundary-layer interactions will be emphasized, resulting in mean flow separation and low-frequency unsteadiness that can couple with natural frequencies of the solid structure. Simulation results will be compared with supersonic wind-tunnel experiments. Second, the enhancement of scalar mixing under canonical shock-turbulence interactions will be addressed by means of shock-capturing direct numerical simulations, evaluating the effects of the shock and turbulence Mach numbers, and the Reynolds number. Statistical analyses will highlight changes along the mean flow direction of scalar variance and dissipation-rate budgets, flow topology, and alignments of the scalar gradient with vorticity and strain-rate eigendirections. A novel methodology to track the time evolution of geometric and physical quantities of turbulent flow structures will be introduced and applied to study the dynamics of isoscalar surfaces across the shock-turbulence interaction.

    Biography: Ivan Bermejo-Moreno received an engineer's degree from the School of Aeronautics at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain (2001). He then worked for two years in the aerospace industry (GMV) and received a Fulbright Fellowship to pursue M.Sc. (2004) and Ph.D. (2008) degrees in aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology. Afterwards, he held a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Center for Turbulence Research, Stanford University/NASA Ames Research Center (2009-2014). He joined the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Southern California as assistant professor in 2015. His research combines numerical methods, physical modeling, and high-performance computing for the simulation and analysis of turbulent fluid flows involving multi-physics phenomena. He is a recipient of the Rolf D. Buhler Memorial Award, the William F. Ballhaus Prize, the Hans G. Hornung Prize, and the NSF CAREER Award.

    Host: AME Department

    More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/

    Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95805178776?pwd=aEtTRnQ2MmJ6UWE4dk9UMG9GdENLQT09

    Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 102

    WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95805178776?pwd=aEtTRnQ2MmJ6UWE4dk9UMG9GdENLQT09

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Tessa Yao

    Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/

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  • DEN@Viterbi - Online Graduate Engineering Virtual Information Session

    Wed, Apr 19, 2023 @ 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM

    DEN@Viterbi, Viterbi School of Engineering Graduate Admission

    Workshops & Infosessions


    Join USC Viterbi School of Engineering for a virtual information session via WebEx, providing an introduction to DEN@Viterbi, our top ranked online delivery system. Discover the 40+ graduate engineering and computer science programs available entirely online.

    Attendees will have the opportunity to connect directly with USC Viterbi representatives during the session to discuss the admission process, program details and the benefits of online delivery.

    Register Today!

    WebCast Link: https://uscviterbi.webex.com/weblink/register/r9fa0bf5ae666146fea47160134177466

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Corporate & Professional Programs

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  • Min Family Challenge Finals

    Wed, Apr 19, 2023 @ 06:00 PM - 08:00 PM

    Viterbi Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship

    Receptions & Special Events


    Hear from the final Min Family Challenge Teams in their technologies and innovation solution that meets societal needs. As they compete for the 50,000 prize towards their business.

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Viterbi TIE

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  • Min Family Challenge Finals

    Wed, Apr 19, 2023 @ 06:00 PM - 08:00 PM

    Viterbi Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    The Min Family Social Entrepreneurship Challenge was inspired by the Min family's enduring faith and aspiration to empower future generations of engineers to use their acquired knowledge and leverage the power of technology to better the world by globally serving the least fortunate and their pressing societal needs. This year the theme focuses on the Sustainable Development Goals.

    This years Min Family Challenge 2022-2023 cohort have been going through educational sessions, workshops, and meetings with mentors throughout the academic year. This years Min Family Challenge will culminate with the Finals Showcase on April 19 at 6pm.

    Location: Private Location (register to display)

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Johannah Murray

    Event Link: https://engage.usc.edu/Viterbitie/rsvp?id=389254

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  • NL Seminar - Modular Language Models

    Thu, Apr 20, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Information Sciences Institute

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Suchin Gururangan, University of Washington, Univ. Of Washington

    Talk Title: Modular Language Models

    Series: NL Seminar

    Abstract: REMINDER:

    Meeting hosts only admit guests that they know to the Zoom meeting. Hence, you are highly encouraged to use your USC account to sign into Zoom.

    If you are an outside visitor, please inform us at nlg DASH seminar DASH host AT isi DOT edu beforehand so we will be aware of your attendance and let you in.

    Conventional language models (LMs) are trained densely: all parameters are updated with respect to all data. We argue that dense training leads to a variety of well-documented issues with LMs, including their prohibitive training cost and unreliable downstream behavior. We then introduce a new class of LMs that are fundamentally modular, where components (or experts) of the LM are specialized to distinct domains in the training corpus, and experts are conditionally updated based on the domain of the incoming document. We show how modularity addresses the limitations of dense training by enabling LMs that are rapidly customizable (with the ability to mix, add, or remove experts after training), embarrassingly parallel (requiring no communication between experts), and sparse (needing only a few experts active at a time for inference). Key to our proposal is exploring what constitutes the domains to which experts specialize, as well as reflecting on the data sources used to train LMs. Our new techniques chart a path towards collaborative LM development, where anyone can contribute and maintain experts at very modest computational cost.

    Biography: Suchin Gururangan is a 3rd year PhD candidate at the University of Washington, advised by Noah A. Smith and Luke Zettlemoyer. He was previously a visiting researcher at Meta AI, a pre doctoral resident at the Allen Institute for AI, and spent several years in industry as a data scientist. His research interests span many areas of NLP, currently he works on modular, sparse language models that are efficient to customize and scale. His work has received awards at ACL 2020 and 2021, and he is supported by the Bloomberg Data Science PhD Fellowship.

    Host: Jon May and Justin Cho

    More Info: https://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/

    Webcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWlVRGgwRK4

    Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - Virtual and ISI-Conf Rm#689

    WebCast Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWlVRGgwRK4

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Pete Zamar

    Event Link: https://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/

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  • CS Colloquium: Alvaro Velasquez (DARPA) - Neuro-Symbolic Transfer and Optimization

    Thu, Apr 20, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Alvaro Velasquez, DARPA

    Talk Title: Neuro-Symbolic Transfer and Optimization

    Series: CS Colloquium

    Abstract: Neuro-symbolic artificial intelligence (NSAI) has experienced a renaissance and gained much traction in recent years as a potential "third wave" of AI to follow the tremendously successful second wave underpinned by statistical deep learning. NSAI seeks the integration of neural learning systems and formal symbolic reasoning for more efficient, robust, and explainable AI. This integration has been successful in classification and reinforcement learning, among other areas, but its application to transfer learning and combinatorial optimization remains largely unexplored. In this talk, we will cover recent advancements for the integration of symbolic structures in transferring knowledge between agents in the context of reinforcement learning and planning for sequential decision-making. We will also explore the concept of dataless neural networks as a framework for integrating combinatorial optimization problems and learning models. We conclude with a vision for these areas and the technical challenges that follow.

    This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium

    Biography: Alvaro Velasquez is a program manager in the Innovation Information Office (I2O) of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where he currently leads programs on neuro-symbolic AI. Before that, Alvaro oversaw the machine intelligence portfolio of investments for the Information Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). Alvaro received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Central Florida in 2018 and is a recipient of the distinguished paper award from AAAI, best paper and patent awards from AFRL, the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) award, the University of Central Florida 30 Under 30 award. He has authored over 60 papers and two patents and serves as Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Artificial Intelligence. His research has been funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

    Host: Jyo Deshmukh

    Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Assistant to CS chair

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  • PhD Thesis Defense - Naghmeh Zamani

    Thu, Apr 20, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 01:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    University Calendar


    PhD Thesis Defense - Naghmeh Zamani

    Title: Perception and Haptic Interface Design for Rendering Hardness and Stiffness

    Committee: Heather Culbertson, Jernej Barbic, Somil Bansal

    Abstract: In this talk, I will discuss the challenge of accurately rendering the sensations of hardness and stiffness in haptic applications, which is a critical problem for applications such as medical simulation that require accurate virtual hardness and stiffness replication. The first part of the talk will present a set of experiments to investigate human tactile perception sensitivity in tool-mediated systems. The second part will explore a new method for rendering hard objects using an encountered-type haptic display and augmented reality. The talk will evaluate how changing the hardness of the end-effector affects the user's perception of the interaction and proposes a dynamic end-effector for a more accurate and realistic simulation of hardness and stiffness. Furthermore, I will discuss the investigation of the underlying events on the skin during the interaction between a bare finger and the environment. The results suggest that the spectral content of vibration feedback is important mechanical information for surface hardness discrimination and natural material identification. The talk will provide insights and solutions to improve the accuracy and realism of haptic simulations for applications that require the perception of hardness and stiffness in virtual objects

    Location: Charles Lee Powell Hall (PHE) - 325

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Melissa Ochoa

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  • MHI ISSS Seminar - Prof. Yahya Tousi, Thursday, April 20th at 2pm in RTH 211

    Thu, Apr 20, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 02:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Prof. Yahya Tousi, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

    Talk Title: Toward energy-efficient and scalable mm-wave systems

    Series: Integrated Systems

    Abstract: The end of device scaling is the dawning of a new era in integrated circuit design. Today, there is a growing demand for energy-efficient systems in multi-sensor electric vehicles, UAVs, and distributed wireless pico-cells. This is while, the intrinsic performance of analog building blocks no longer scales with technology nodes. In this talk I will argue that in the absence of device-level scaling, rethinking the frontend architecture by modernizing the traditional hierarchical design can open the door to substantial improvements in hardware efficiency and scalability. I will present two examples to support this claim.
    In the first work we rethink digital processing in phase modulated radars by replacing it with a more efficient mixed analog processing scheme. The new system demonstrates more than an order of magnitude improvement in energy efficiency compared to traditional radar sensors. In the second work I introduce a nearest element phase monitoring architecture that overcomes the scalability challenges in traditional LO distribution schemes. Based on this new approach and for the first time, we implement a mm-wave phased array radiator with seamless multi-chip scalability. These two examples demonstrate how combining architectural and circuit-level innovations in this new era can lead to efficient and scalable mm-wave and THz systems.

    Biography: Yahya Tousi received his Ph.D. degree in 2012 from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. In 2014 he joined the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center at Yorktown Heights, NY to develop the next generation of mm-wave phased array transceivers for wireless communication systems, and since 2017 he has been with the ECE Department at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. His current research interests are in high performance integrated circuits and novel architectures for mm-wave and terahertz systems with applications in communication, sensing, and healthcare. Dr. Tousi is the co-recipient of ISSCC Lewis Award for Outstanding Paper, and the Journal of Solid-State Best Paper Award both in 2017, the DARPA Young Faculty Award in 2020 and the DARPA Director's Fellowship Award in 2022.

    Host: MHI - ISSS, Hashemi, Chen and Sideris

    More Info: Zoom Link/Code: Meeting ID: 950 2226 0136, Passcode: 325523

    More Information: FLYER_Tousi.pdf

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Marilyn Poplawski

    Event Link: Zoom Link/Code: Meeting ID: 950 2226 0136, Passcode: 325523

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  • Pitfalls and Paradoxes in the History of Probability Theory

    Fri, Apr 21, 2023 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Michael Shlesinger, Office of Naval Research

    Talk Title: Pitfalls and Paradoxes in the History of Probability Theory

    Abstract: From the throwing of bones, dice, choosing long or short sticks, or debating the risk of the smallpox vaccine, fascinating and sometimes puzzling questions have arisen to advance the field of probability. We discuss interesting personalities and their famous questions and paradoxes including Galileo and Newton's dice game, de Mere's Grand Scandal, the Pascal-Fermat letters, the St. Petersburg Paradox, Bernoulli's Monster, and Bertrand's Paradox. We discuss the discovery of limit theorems from DeMoivre who first arrived at the Gaussian to Poisson who studied the same process, but with a twist arrived instead at the Poisson distribution. Levy considered a self-similar random process to arrive at random variables with infinite moments with now connections to fractals.

    Biography: Dr. Michael Shlesinger received a B.S. in Math and Physics from SUNY Stony Brook in 1970 and PhD in Physics from the University of Rochester in 1976. He then worked at the La Jolla Institute, Georgia Tech, and the University of Maryland before joining the Office of Naval Research in 1983. He became Head of ONR's Physics Division in 1986 and a member of the Senior Executive Service in 1987. He switched to a Chief Scientist role in 1995 and received the Presidential Rank Award in 2004 and ONR's Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. He has held the Kinnear Chair for Science at the USNA. One of his ONR responsibilities was the Division Director for Marine Corps programs. His ONR programs have focused on fields including Nonlinear Dynamics; Fractals; and Plasmonic Materials. He co-founded the Experimental Chaos Conference and received the APS Outstanding Referee Award. His work on random processes can be found in his 2021 mathematical autobiography "An Unbounded Experience in Random Walks with Applications."

    Host: Paul Bogdan

    Location: Hedco Neurosciences Building (HNB) - 100

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Estela Lopez

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  • BME Speaker, Dr. Hangbo Zhao

    Fri, Apr 21, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. Hangbo Zhao , Assistant Professor, Viterbi School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

    Talk Title: Soft 3-dimensional bioelectronics

    Host: BME Professor Ellis Meng - ZOOM link available upon request

    Location: Corwin D. Denney Research Center (DRB) - 145

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Michele Medina

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  • DEI: Coffee Hour Meet & Greet

    DEI: Coffee Hour Meet & Greet

    Fri, Apr 21, 2023 @ 12:00 PM - 01:30 PM

    Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

    Receptions & Special Events


    Come meet the members of the AME Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Committee! Join us for coffee and snacks on Friday, April 21st between 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM in OHE 406 / Laufer Conference Room!

    Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 406

    Audiences: Department Only

    Contact: Victoria Sevilla

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  • Engineers for Earth Day - Wikipedia Editathon

    Fri, Apr 21, 2023 @ 01:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs

    Workshops & Infosessions


    Join the Engineering in Society Program and the Science & Engineering Library in their second annual Engineers for Earth Day Wikipedia Editathon!

    When: Friday, April 21, 2023
    When: 1-3PM
    Where: SSL 210

    Use your research and writing skills to improve the world's knowledge about sustainability and engineering!

    We welcome new and experienced Wikipedia editors.

    Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 210

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Helen Choi

    Event Link: https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/University_of_Southern_California/Engineers_for_Earth_Day_2023_(Spring_2023)

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  • PhD Thesis Defense - Brendan Avent

    Fri, Apr 21, 2023 @ 04:00 PM - 06:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    University Calendar


    PhD Thesis Defense - Brendan Avent

    Title: Practice-Inspired Models and Mechanisms for Differential Privacy

    Committee Members: Aleksandra Korolova (chair), Salman Avestimehr (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering), Leana Golubchik, David Kempe, Cyrus Shahabi


    Abstract: Now more than ever, organizations such as companies, governments, and researchers must collect and analyze people's sensitive data to drive decisions and fuel innovation. Differential privacy has become the gold standard for data privacy in computer science literature, particularly for privacy-preserving data analysis and machine learning. Significant research effort has been devoted to designing and theoretically analyzing mechanisms that satisfy differential privacy. However, far less research has studied the pragmatic considerations of differential privacy, i.e., how its trust models and mechanisms can be adapted and applied for real-world uses.

    I focus on making differential privacy useful for real-world applications by removing barriers that hinder its adoption in practice. In the first part, I address the utility gap between the more and less desirable trust models of differential privacy by defining and analyzing a new hybrid trust model. In the second part, I address the lack of tools for analyzing the utility of complex differentially private mechanisms by developing a new method for quantifying such mechanisms privacy--utility trade-offs. Finally, I show how to improve the utility of DP mechanisms that answer statistical queries on a large scale. In the classic setting where all queries are provided to the mechanism in advance, I detail how we extend the state-of-the-art differentially private mechanism for answering marginal queries to a more general, flexible query class. I then define a new setting where our extended mechanism is only provided partial knowledge of which queries will be posed. Analyzing the mechanism in both settings, I show that it answers a massive number of queries both efficiently and effectively.

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Melissa Ochoa

    Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95544425859?pwd=Wk82dTBEQkhyMDFxeGtqS2VqK0h5UT09 ;Meeting ID: 955 4442 5859 ;Passcode: 645176

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